Amravati: The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to promote the use of environment friendly Nano urea in the agriculture area. The government is planning to create awareness among the farmers about the benefits of Nano urea and the efforts are on to make this non-conventional urea be made available to the farming community during the Kharif season beginning next month.

Indian Farmers' Fertiliser Cooperative Corporation (IFFCO) has developed this Nano urea liquid indigenously through proprietary technology at its Nano Biotechnology Research Centre (NBRC) in Gujarat’s Kalol.

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A 500 ml bottle of Nano urea is equivalent to a bag of 45 kg of urea. While a bag of urea is priced at Rs 266.50 in the market, a bottle of Nano urea is available for just Rs 240. In the last kharif season, 20,000 farmers purchased 34,128 bottles (17,000 litres) of urea on a pilot basis in Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Kurnool and Prakasam districts. Later, more than one lakh farmers purchased 5,46,012 bottles (2.73 lakh litres) in the Rabi season.

The state government is procuring Nano urea liquid in huge quantities before the onset of Kharif season to ensure farmers do not face shortage of fertilisers at any stage of the season. As against the requirement of 19.02 lakh tonnes of fertilisers during Kharif season, 6.19 lakh tonnes have already been stored. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has instructed the concerned officials to reduce the use of traditional fertilisers and promote the use of Nano urea as an alternative fertiliser. As per the instructions of the AP chief minister, IFFCO has allocated 16 lakh bottles (8 lakh litres) for the 2022-23 season.

“After the extensive campaign from the Andhra Pradesh government, the consumption of Nano urea is increasing in the state. Keeping in view the demand from the farmers, we have allocated 8 lakh litres of Nano urea liquid bottles to the state for the upcoming Kharif season. IFFCO is ready to increase the allocation further if required,” Sridhar Reddy, State Marketing Manager, IFFCO said

The Agriculture department has set aside at least 10 lakh bottles (about 5 lakh litres) for the Kharif season. Of these, at least 25 percent of Nano urea liquid will be made available in Rythu Bharosa Kendralu (RBKs). Similar to Nano urea liquid, the Agriculture department is also planning to launch nano DAP (Diammonium phosphate), Zinc and copper products in the market. The urea products, which have completed the trials, are expected to be launched in the market beginning the Kharif-2023 season.